Mindy's Blog

Guest blogger from Soul Gardeners.com is Tom, who loves life and enjoys exploring as much of it as he can. He is sharing life with Lollie, Tayla and Liam as well as friends and family. He is passionate about the kingdom and how it takes expression in South Africa. For original posting, click here.

This Sunday is the beginning of the new year. That is if you follow the church calendar. The lectionary readings for the gospels next year will be from the book of Matthew. This past year was from Luke. This is now the eighth year I will be following the rhythms of the church year. It is a wonderful anti-rhythm to the consumer calendar and as we all know the Christmas season is the ultimate crazy consumer season.

So Sunday marks the start of Advent; the four Sundays before Christmas where we prepare our hearts for the “comings” of Jesus (that is what advent means). A few years ago I stumbled across the Advent Conspiracy site and though it was a great idea to establish a different rhythm.